The ex-boyfriend of a woman who was found dead in a shallow grave inside an Alabama barn earlier this year was indicted on one count of abuse of a corpse on Tuesday.
Marcus Spanevelo, 35, was arrested in Tennessee in April. He was originally charged with tampering with evidence and lying to law enforcement in Santa Rosa County, Florida, but those charges were dropped in October and he was extradited to St. Clair County in Alabama to face the abuse of a corpse charge.
His ex-girlfriend, 37-year-old Cassie Carli, disappeared on March 27 after the former couple met in the parking lot of a Florida restaurant for a custody exchange of their 4-year-old daughter.
Carli's father reported her missing the next day and her remains were found on April 2 in a shallow grave on a property in Springville, Alabama, that authorities have said is connected to Spanevelo.
The former couple had been in the midst of a years-long custody battle over their daughter. Just 9 days before Carli disappeared, a judge ordered Spanevelo to pay her $5,920 in legal fees associated with the court battle.
Evidence was scheduled to be presented in a preliminary hearing on the abuse of a corpse count on Tuesday, but the hearing was canceled and Spanevelo was instead served with the indictment in jail, according to AL.com.
Carli's cause and manner of death was ruled "undetermined" with no obvious signs of trauma, according to St. Clair County Coroner Dennis Russel. Spanevelo is not currently facing any other charges in Carli's death.
The St. Clair County District Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday about whether additional charges would be filed.
Jail records did not indicate if Spanevelo has an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
